Holder for use on garment hangers



July 4, 1961 G. W..BEGLEY HOLDER FOR USE ON GARMENT HANGERS Filed Aug. 28, 1959 FlG.2

FIG.I

I3" INVENTOR G.eorgeW.Begley ATT'J/J United States Patent- Filed Aug. 28, 1959, Set. N0, 836,701 3 Claims. (Cl. 22388) The present invention is a holder for use on garment hangers having for an object to provide a simpleinexpensive holder, of wire or the like, which is inter-engaged with the pendent portion of a garment supported on a conventional garment hanger, to permit folding said pendent portion into proximity with the hanger preparatory to engaging the holder with the hanger.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a holder for use on garment hangers, an embodiment of which includes a resilient clamp engageable transversely across the pendent portion of the garment, near the end of the latter, to permit the lower part of the. garment to be folded upwardly against one side of the garment hanger and the clamp then flexed over and with the garment carried hanger; to provide a holder especially adapted for use in facilitating carrying of bag-encased garments from cleaners, laundr-ies, and the like, by folding the lower pendent portion of the encased garment and positively holding it in contiguity to the upper part of the garment carried by the hanger; and to provide a holder which is also adapted for use with garment carried hangers used in the storage of suits, dresses, coats, and the like, not only effecting economy in space, but also maintaining the shape of the garment and minimizing possibility of the bag casing being torn or displaced.

Other objects of the invention will be manifest from the following description of the present preferred forms of the invention, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a holder constructed in accordance with the present invention illustrating its application;

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of the same;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the holder per se;

FIG. 4 is a detailed fragmentary perspective view of a modified form of holder; and

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of another modified form of holder illustrating the manner of engaging it with a conventional garment hanger.

In order to illustrate the application of this invention, there is shown, in FIGS. 1, 2 and 5 of the drawing, a conventional type of garment hanger consisting of the usual wire frame with which the garment is engaged and a supporting hook 11 formed on one end of the wire frame, the opposite end of the latter usually being convoluted around the shank of the hook 11, as indicated at 12. The device of this invention may partake of different forms, such as shown in FIGS. 3, 4 and 5. In the main form, shown in FIG. 3, the application of which is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the holder generally designated at 13 includes a bar or rod 14 preferably made of a flexible metal, each end of the rod being bent at right angles, as indicated at 15, each of said ends issuing into a reversely folded finger 16 which terminates in a loop 17, which is slightly flared upwardly, as indicated at 18, for the purpose herein-after described. The end portions 15 and 16 of the rod provide U-shaped clips which are adapted to be flexed into engagement with a garment carried hanger after the fashion shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

This invention, being especially adapted for carrying garment-carried hangers from cleaners, l-aundries, etc., addresses itself to garments which are mounted on a hanger in the usual manner and then encased in a paper bag usually made of transparent plastic material. In FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing, the bag is indicated at 19,

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the upper end of the bag being closed except for anopening, through which the hook 11 of the hanger passes. The bag hangs downwardly from the hanger encasing the garment in toto. It is, of course, diflicult to carry 5 garments in this way, even for relatively short distances,

but with the device of the present invention the garmentencased bag is folded up into a relatively small compact bundle which may be carried after the fashion of a brief case, or the like. To effect this folding, the holder 13 is engaged with the garment-encased bag approximately two-thirds of the length from the top of the bag, the body portion 14 of the holder extending transversely across the bag 19. The holder is then lifted to a position where the open ends of the U-shaped terminals are just above the frame of the garment hanger, following which the said U-shaped terminals are pressed downwardly so as to flex the parts 15 and 16 of each U into engagement with those parts of the bag which are in proximity to the opposite ends of the hanger, precisely as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. By flaring the loop 17 slightly outwardly, engagement of the U terminals with the bag and hanger is facilitated and possible rupture of the bag prevented. When folded in this manner, it will be seen, upon reference to FIG. 2 of the drawing, that the length of the pendent portion of the bag-encased garment is reduced to one-third of its length and positively maintained in this position until the holder is released from the hanger.

In the form of invention illustrated in FIG. 4, the holder generally designated 13 has its opposite ends extended upwardly at right angles, as indicated at 15, but the upper terminal of each of these right angle portions is then extended in a horizontal plane for an appreciable distance in parallel relation to the body of the bar or rod 14, as indicated at 20. The free end of each of the parts 20 is then bent into an inverted U-shaped loop 21, which is of identical construction to the parts 15, 16, 17 and 18 of the form of holder shown in FIG. 3. This form of the invention is especially adapted for use with paper bags, the space below each of the parts 20 of this form of holder providing habitats for the opposite margins of the paper bag to provide adequate space and to positively insure efiecting holding of the paper bag-encased garment into engagement with the garment hanger. This type of holder is used in the identical manner as the holder illustrated in the form of invention shown in FIGS. 1 t0 3.

In the form of invention shown in FIG. 5, the holder, illustrated at 22, consists of a closed frame which is adapted to embrace the bag or other casing used for the garment, the frame including converging arms 23, the free terminals of which are formed to provide hooks 24 which may be expeditiously engaged around the shank of the hook 11. In this form of invention the pendent bagencased garment may also be folded to reduce its length by approximately two-thirds and the folds maintained in relatively close proximity.

While I have herein shown and described the preferred embodiments of my invention, it is nevertheless to be understood that various changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

l. A holder for use on a garment hanger having a centrally disposed hook and oppositely extending shoulder supporting portions including a U-shaped holder frame engageable with the pendent portion of a garment supported on the hanger, the frame being movable to bring the pendent portion of the garment into contiguity with the upper part of the garment on the hanger, the holder being substantially the same as, but of lesser width than the garment hanger, the legs of the said frame being of 3 4 a length to dispose the bight of the frame at an elevation References Cited in the file of-this patent adjacent to a line connecting the ends of the shoulder supporting portions of the hanger, the free ends of the legs UNITED STATES PATENTS embodying free terminals loosely engageable with said 1,731,628 B y 3 shoulder supporting portions of the hanger to retain the 5 1,791,496 H nry 3 garment in elevated folded position. 22,6 Marsh ll J ly 5, 1938 2. The holder of claim 1 in which the free terminals 2, 09 Meyer Aug. 21, 1945 of the frame are resilient fingers adapted to be flexed over 2,584,199 GIOSSmaH 1 the garment carried by the hanger. 2,720,349 Finkel 1955 3. The holder of claim 2 in which the said resilient 10 2,750,086 Antal June 12, 1956 fingers are of substantially the same length as the le s of 2,761,599 Lancaster P 4, 1956 2,881,964 Schneier et al Apr. 14, 1959 the frame. 

